SOMATIC COMORBID ITY AND DE VELOPIN G EPILEPSY IN CHILDREN AFTER A SINGLE SEI ZURE

Aim – to study chronic somatic comorbidity as a possible predictor of epilepsy in children after a single seizure.Materials and methods. Based on the follow-up results, 279 cases were studied and compared: the study group – epilepsy – included 166 children with two or more seizures developed at least 24 hours after the first seizure; the control group – 113 children with a single seizure that remained isolated for the subsequent three years.Results. We found that at the time of the first (single) attack, the background of chronic ocular morbidity (myopia, hypermetropia, optic nerve atrophy, retinal dystrophy) was significantly more common among children in the control group as compared with the confirmed epilepsy group where cardiovascular disorders prevailed. Other concomitant diseases had no statistically significant correlations with the occurrence of epilepsy after a single seizure.Conclusion. Diagnosis of somatic comorbidity in children with a single seizure may be a prognostic factor of subsequent epilepsy.